I can provide a data point from the Netherlands.
In 2022 there were approximately 291 uni group intro fellowship completions. In 2023 there were approximately 212.
From what I hear from organisers, there is far less interest in EA programmes but a lot of interest in AIS programmes.
Do the intro fellowship completions only include EA Intro Fellowship, not people doing the AI Safety Fundamentals course?
Correct. I’m a co-author on a post on AIS coordination in NL which has some relevant AIS numbers (sorry for not linking, I’m on my phone right now).
There's been a bunch of discussion by some people about how FTX led to a decline in EA, not just due to a cut in funding, but also through damage to EA's reputation.
I'm very curious to understand how this has affected EA community building, in particular, focusing particularly on university community building since this seems to be one of the main pipelines for drawing talent into EA, even more so for people who are willing to shift their careers to maximise their impact. How elite university groups are going is even more relevant since members of these groups due to the talent concentration there.
For people organising or involved in these groups: have you noticed much of a decline? I'm asking both in terms of attendance and in terms of recruiting new members. In Sydney, university groups seem to have had it pretty tough, but a large part of that is a decline in student in-person attendance at university post-pandemic.
This year is my first year as co-organiser of an EA group at a university, and although I can't say much about a pattern of negative situations due to the FTX scandal and other EA-related controversies, I can speak to a couple of recent experiences that I think is related to these.
At our clubs fair earlier in the year, out of all the ~200 people we had come to our stall to talk, we had one person that came not to talk, but to tell us that we were just a mechanism that allows rich people to feel good while getting away with doing bad things behind the scenes. This 'discussion' happened with my co-organiser while I was walking around chatting to other clubs about potential collaborations, and although I don't know the full substance of the argument, I was present for the latter half and my co-organiser updated me when the person left. He didn't mention anything about the FTX scandal in particular, but with this scandal on EA's record, as well as associations with people like Elon Musk who have in the past endorsed EA's ideas, I think the likelihood of this antagonistic exchange being motivated by this is reasonably high.
Also, recently we were going to do a collaborative event with another club, as we had an idea for an event that aligned well with both then and EA. All the promotional materials were finished and we were starting to advertise the event, with the other club advertising it to their membership, and us about to start doing the same to ours. However, a few days after advertising, we received an email from one of the higher-ups of the club saying that their membership had raised some concerns about EA as an organisation and said they would not be collaborating with us any longer and removed themselves from the event. We are still yet to find out what concerns were raised (there is a chance they won't tell us), but I think this is a good example of how things like the FTX scandal have tainted the reputation of EA and the perception of it to the general populace.
I can't say this is a pattern for all university groups, this is just what we have experienced this year as first-time organisers.
There are some very valid criticisms of EA, and I think skepticism of EA due to things like the FTX scandal is completely warranted. However, I think it is very unfortunate that some people take these examples and portray them as representative of EA as a whole.
As a new organiser, I am very unsure how to navigate situations like this. Our intuition has been to approach this with respect and understanding, and ask people to clarify their concerns, more so we can understand how EA is being perceived, rather than trying to change minds.
Would be very interested to hear how other university groups have been affected by the FTX scandal and other examples of events that have tainted the perception of EA as a whole.